


The Market

by cherrycokeisnice



Series: Theodora [1]
Category: Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys - My Chemical Romance (Album), The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (Comic)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:34:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23475526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cherrycokeisnice/pseuds/cherrycokeisnice
Summary: We learn the story of how Party Poison met the Girl's mother
Series: Theodora [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1688839
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	The Market

The Market  
The market in Zone 3 was an absolute clusterfuck most days. Today, though, it was surprisingly quiet. Theodora didn’t feel anyone jostling against her, didn’t hear the shouts of dozens of people all scrambling for food and water. There wasn’t even the combined stench of the body odour of everyone there. It was kinda nice.

What wasn’t nice was the shrill, annoying sound of a twelve year old boy, screaming nearby. Theo had lived in the Zones long enough to be able to tell the difference between a scream of joy, a feral scream, and the scream of someone in danger. This scream, how it pierced through the air, how uncalculated it sounded, made Theo think it was the latter. Someone was in danger. 

Theo rushed through the market, towards where the sound of screaming was coming from. She made record time, the lack of people letting her pick up speed. She swung her bags up behind her head, ready to hit whoever was hurting whoever around the corner. If experience had taught her one thing, it was that a water bottle to the head was a great way to put a guy on his ass. A bag of them would knock this dick all the way back to the City. Theo let out a scream of her own as she rounded the corner, and found...

A 30 year old man and a twelve year old boy staring at her in surprise. The man had stubble that was days old, and was wearing a ratty camo jacket. His hand was raised in the air, poised to slap the boy. The boy, whose hair was a mousy brain and rather short for a zone-dweller, was looking at Theo with a gaze that was a little softer than the daggers the older man was shooting at her. The boy had his foot in the air, clearly halfway towards kicking the man in the balls. It was when the boy lost his balance and stumbled that Theo stepped forward. 

“Hiya, I’m looking for a new ray gun, my old one got water damage. Do ya know which stall sells blasters? I’ve never had to buy one before.” Theo had obviously lowered her arms, so that the bags were by her hips, carrying them like any sane person. The man who seemingly owned the stall said nothing, only pointing to the sign that rested against the stall.

“Blasters for Bitches” read the sign, and as the man went back behind the counter, Theo pulled some carbons out of one of her bags. She surveyed the selection the man had, and was trying to decide between a yellow one with pink stars and a dark orange blaster when someone caught her eye. The boy too had retreated to behind the counter, but the angular way the bones in his arms stuck out forced an involuntary shiver to go through Theo. This boy obviously wasn’t being fed enough-they all struggled in the desert, but not that extent. She would definitely buy a gun now, if only so these two could get something to eat.

The man had noticed her shiver, and cleared his throat, trying to hurry her along. Theo tacked her brain for a way to get the man away from the counter for a moment, and nearly gave up when it came to her.

“Do ya have any of those rechargeable batteries to go with the blaster? I don’t wanna spend a fortune on buying batters over and over. I can pay ya right now.” Theo shook one of her arms, which made the coin inside the bag bounce and jingle audibly. Theo saw the man’s gaze switch to the bag, and then, with a sigh, the man went back into the tent where he seemingly kept his stock. Theo seized the chance, leaning forward to speak to the boy.

“He’s not feeding you, is he?” Theo waited for a reply from the boy, but none came. The mousy hair in the boy’s eyes stopped Theo from reading his face, and his body language was guarded. “Is he feeding you? You look skinny as shit. I can see your arm bones. If ya come with me, I can feed ya, give ya a place to sleep. Come on, whadda ya say?” Theo put a little more desperation in her voice, trying to convince the brown-haired boy. If he wasn’t fed, he wouldn’t survive much longer. His arms had no muscle, his shirt was hanging off of him. The boy was starving. 

“Piss off lady. You sound like a fucking creep.” The boy crossed his arms, which made The cringe once again, and it was at that point the man came back to the counter. He put the batteries down, and looked at Theo.

“You gonna pick a blaster or what?” Theo felt the hostility coming from the man, and knew any chance she had of getting the boy to come with her was gone. She pointed to the yellow gun with the pink stars, putting the carbons on the counter. As Theo cleared the batteries and the blaster into the bag, she looked at the boy one last time, pleading him to come with her. He simply turned his back on Theo, walking back into the tent.

When Theo got back to the Diner, a sense of guilt filled her. She could’ve done more, could’ve pleaded with the boy more. Fuck it, she had been holding a blaster in her hands. She could’ve killed the man, right then and there. A bolt between the eyes, it would’ve been quick, it would’ve been easy, it-it would t have worked. Because everyone else in the market would’ve turned on her faster than a body decayed in the heat. No, she had to think about this.

The boy’s hair was long enough to cover his eyes, but still pretty short by zone standards. He hadn’t been out here long. He was skinny as all shit, but maybe the man wasn’t starving him-maybe the man had taken the boy in recently, and was feeding him. No, that couldn’t be it. The boy and the man were shouting, about to hit each other as Theodora had ran around the corner. They didn’t get on. And the boy’s body language...it was almost as thin as his actual body. 

He was scared, he was in danger, and she had to do something. So she did.

The next market was in two days. Theodora brought her knife along with her, the triangular blade she’d had to trade a whole week’s cleaning for. She entered the market slightly differently then she had two days prior, this time tho an objective, walking with purpose. Like before, she had a bag filled with water bottles. They were empty this time, though. She had to be able to drop them, at a moment’s notice. She could afford to lose these bottles.

She had spent the night before tinkering with the blaster, busting its wires, not so much it was obvious she had done it, however. Just enough to look like faulty merchandise. Now, Theo walked up to the stall, and slammed the blaster down on the counter, loud enough that everyone with hearing distance looked around to see what the noise was.

“You sold me a shitty blaster. Fix it.” The man began to protest, but Theo simply held a hand up to his face, like in some old wrestling promo, and the man hushed. “Go back in that shitty little tent of yours, and fix my blaster, or I spread the word that you sell shitty merchandise.” Theo’s gaze remained fixed on the man, and he eventually went into the tent. With that, Theo grabbed the boy by the scruff of his shirt and pulled him forward, so they were face to face. The boy was too shocked to do anything but stare at Theo, his fear visible.

“Now this is the only time that I’m coming back here, so you better listen. If ya don’t want to come with me this time, I’ll leave you alone. Now, answer me honestly, no moody shit, no silence. You fucking answer. Is he feeding you?” The boy shook his head, and in a barely audible voice, answered Theodora.

“No, no he’s not.” Theodora’s grip softened on the boy, and so did her stare. Her voice became more gentle, more comforting. “I’m not a creep, I swear to Jesus I’m not. I can give you a place to live, I can feed you, anything. If you stay with this man, you will die. Make no mistake about that. You will not survive with him. Please. Come with me.”

The boy looked at Theodora for what felt like an eternity, and Theo was sure the man was going to come back out from the tent any second. Then, the boy nodded, and stepped out from behind the counter. He ran with Theo back to the Diner, and that night, he had his first real meal since coming out to the Zones. Anything before was just scraps.

And that was how Party Poison met the Girl’s mother.


End file.
